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Effect of elevated carbon dioxide on shoal familiarity and metabolism in a coral reef fish.

ABSTRACT: Atmospheric CO2 is expected to more than double by the end of the century. The resulting changes in ocean chemistry will affect the behaviour, sensory systems and physiology of a range of fish species. Although a number of past studies have examined effects of CO2 in gregarious fishes, most have assessed individuals in social isolation, which can alter individual behaviour and metabolism in social species. Within social groups, a learned familiarity can develop following a prolonged period of interaction between individuals, with fishes preferentially associating with familiar conspecifics because of benefits such as improved social learning and greater foraging opportunities. However, social recognition occurs through detection of shoal-mate cues; hence, it may be disrupted by near-future CO2 conditions. In the present study, we examined the influence of elevated CO2 on shoal familiarity and the metabolic benefits of group living in the gregarious damselfish species the blue-green puller (Chromis viridis). Shoals were acclimated to one of three nominal CO2 treatments: control (450 µatm), mid-CO2 (750 µatm) or high-CO2 (1000 µatm). After a 4-7 day acclimation period, familiarity was examined using a choice test, in which individuals were given the choice to associate with familiar shoal-mates or unfamiliar conspecifics. In control conditions, individuals preferentially associated with familiar shoal-mates. However, this association was lost in both elevated-CO2 treatments. Elevated CO2 did not impact the calming effect of shoaling on metabolism, as measured using an intermittent-flow respirometry methodology for social species following a 17-20 day acclimation period to CO2 treatment. In all CO2 treatments, individuals exhibited a significantly lower metabolic rate when measured in a shoal vs. alone, highlighting the complexity of shoal dynamics and the processes that influence the benefits of shoaling.

SUBMITTER: Nadler LE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5142050 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effect of elevated carbon dioxide on shoal familiarity and metabolism in a coral reef fish.

Nadler Lauren E LE Killen Shaun S SS McCormick Mark I MI Watson Sue-Ann SA Munday Philip L PL

Conservation physiology 20161109 1

Atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> is expected to more than double by the end of the century. The resulting changes in ocean chemistry will affect the behaviour, sensory systems and physiology of a range of fish species. Although a number of past studies have examined effects of CO<sub>2</sub> in gregarious fishes, most have assessed individuals in social isolation, which can alter individual behaviour and metabolism in social species. Within social groups, a learned familiarity can develop following a ...[more]

PMID: 27933164

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Project description:ABSTRACT:Levels of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) projected to occur in the world's oceans in the near future have been reported to increase swimming activity and impair predator recognition in coral reef fishes. These behavioral alterations would be expected to have dramatic effects on survival and community dynamics in marine ecosystems in the future. To investigate the universality and replicability of these observations, we used juvenile spiny chromis damselfish (Acanthochromis polyacanthus) to examine the effects of long-term CO2 exposure on routine activity and the behavioral response to the chemical cues of a predator (Cephalopholis urodeta). Commencing at ~3-20 days post-hatch, juvenile damselfish were exposed to present-day CO2 levels (~420 ?atm) or to levels forecasted for the year 2100 (~1000 ?atm) for 3 months of their development. Thereafter, we assessed routine activity before and after injections of seawater (sham injection, control) or seawater-containing predator chemical cues. There was no effect of CO2 treatment on routine activity levels before or after the injections. All fish decreased their swimming activity following the predator cue injection but not following the sham injection, regardless of CO2 treatment. Our results corroborate findings from a growing number of studies reporting limited or no behavioral responses of fishes to elevated CO2. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:Alarmingly, it has been reported that levels of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) forecasted for the year 2100 cause coral reef fishes to be attracted to the chemical cues of predators. However, most studies have exposed the fish to CO2 for very short periods before behavioral testing. Using long-term acclimation to elevated CO2 and automated tracking software, we found that fish exposed to elevated CO2 showed the same behavioral patterns as control fish exposed to present-day CO2 levels. Specifically, activity levels were the same between groups, and fish acclimated to elevated CO2 decreased their swimming activity to the same degree as control fish when presented with cues from a predator. These findings indicate that behavioral impacts of elevated CO2 levels are not universal in coral reef fishes.

Project description:Impacts of fisheries-induced evolution may extend beyond life history traits to more cryptic aspects of biology, such as behaviour and physiology. Understanding roles of physiological traits in determining individual susceptibility to capture in fishing gears and how these mechanisms change across contexts is essential to evaluate the capacity of commercial fisheries to elicit phenotypic change in exploited populations. Previous work has shown that metabolic traits related to anaerobic swimming may determine individual susceptibility to capture in trawls, with fish exhibiting higher anaerobic performance more likely to evade capture. However, high densities of fish aggregated ahead of a trawl net may exacerbate the role of social interactions in determining an individual fish's behaviour and likelihood of capture, yet the role of social environment in modulating relationships between individual physiological traits and vulnerability to capture in trawls remains unknown. By replicating the final moments of capture in a trawl using shoals of wild minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), we investigated the role of individual metabolic traits in determining susceptibility to capture among shoals of both familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics. We expected that increased shoal cohesion and conformity of behaviour in shoals of familiar fish would lessen the role of individual metabolic traits in determining susceptibility to capture. However, the opposite pattern was observed, with individual fish exhibiting high anaerobic capacity less vulnerable to capture in the trawl net, but only when tested alongside familiar conspecifics. This pattern is likely due to stronger cohesion within familiar shoals, where maintaining a minimal distance from conspecifics, and thus staying ahead of the net, becomes limited by individual anaerobic swim performance. In contrast, lower shoal cohesion and synchronicity of behaviours within unfamiliar shoals may exacerbate the role of stochastic processes in determining susceptibility to capture, disrupting relationships between individual metabolic traits and vulnerability to capture.

Project description:Coral reefs around the world are rapidly degrading due to a range of environmental stressors. Habitat degradation modifies the sensory landscape within which predator-prey interactions occur, with implications for olfactory-mediated behaviours. Predator naïve settlement-stage damselfish rely on conspecific damage-released odours (i.e., alarm odours) to inform risk assessments. Yet, species such as the Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, become unable to respond appropriately to these cues when living in dead-degraded coral habitats, leading to increased mortality through loss of vigilance. Reef fish predators also rely on odours from damaged prey to locate, assess prey quality and engage in prey-stealing, but it is unknown whether their responses are also modified by the change to dead-degraded coral habitats. Implications for prey clearly depend on how their predatory counterparts are affected, therefore the present study tested whether olfactory-mediated foraging responses in the dusky dottyback, Pseudochromis fuscus, a common predator of P. amboinensis, were similarly affected by coral degradation. A y-maze was used to measure the ability of Ps. fuscus to detect and move towards odours, against different background water sources. Ps. fuscus were exposed to damage-released odours from juvenile P. amboinensis, or a control cue of seawater, against a background of seawater treated with either healthy or dead-degraded hard coral. Predators exhibited an increased time allocation to the chambers of y-mazes injected with damage-released odours, with comparable levels of response in both healthy and dead-degraded coral treated waters. In control treatments, where damage-released odours were replaced with a control seawater cue, fish showed no increased preference for either chamber of the y-maze. Our results suggest that olfactory-mediated foraging behaviours may persist in Ps. fuscus within dead-degraded coral habitats. Ps. fuscus may consequently gain a sensory advantage over P. amboinensis, potentially altering the outcome of predator-prey interactions.

Project description:Transcriptional profiling of gene responses in liver in the coral reef fish Pomacentrus moluccensis in response to different types of environmental stress: cold, heat, hypoxic and hyposmotic shock. Goal was to determine the common effects of different types of environmental stress on gene expression as well as responses unique to different stressors. Abstract from Kassahn et al. BMC Genomics (2007) 8:358 Background While our understanding of the importance of transcriptional regulation for biological function is continuously growing, we still know comparatively little about how environmentally-induced stress affects gene expression in vertebrates and how consistent transcriptional stress responses are across different types of environmental stress. Results In this study, we looked for a genetic measure of environmental stress and used a multi-stressor approach to identify components of a common stress response as well as components unique to different types of environmental stress. We exposed individuals of the coral reef fish Pomacentrus moluccensis to hypoxic, hyposmotic, cold and heat shock and measured the responses of approximately 16,000 genes in liver. We also compared winter and summer responses to heat shock to examine the capacity for such responses to vary with acclimation to different ambient temperatures. We identified a series of gene functions that were consistently involved in all stress responses examined here, suggesting common effects of stress on biological function. These common responses were achieved by the regulation of largely independent sets of genes and the responses of individual genes varied greatly across different stress types. However, we were able to identify groups of co-regulated genes, the genes within which shared similar functions. Given current estimates of climatic change, we were particularly interested in the response to prolonged heat exposure. In total, 324 gene loci were differentially expressed following exposure to heat over five days. The functions of these heat-responsive genes suggest that prolonged heat stress leads to oxidative stress and protein damage, challenge of the immune system, and a re-allocation of energy sources. Conclusion This is the first environmental genomic study to measure gene regulation in response to different environmental stressors in a natural population of a warm-adapted ectothermic vertebrate. This study offers insight into the effects of environmental stress on biological function and sheds light on the expected sensitivity of coral reef fishes to elevated temperatures in the future. Keywords: Stress response

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Effect of elevated carbon dioxide on shoal familiarity and metabolism in a coral reef fish.

Publications

Effect of elevated carbon dioxide on shoal familiarity and metabolism in a coral reef fish.

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